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beccaelizabethBeen reading many comics and thinking about costumes. Okay, mostly thinking 'oooh, pretty' or 'arrgh! it hurts!'. (Old issues of Titans, not of the good.)
Comics costume design is something I have very mixed feelings about. I mean on the one hand, if they arent invulnerable, they should be armoured. All these girls running around with everything hanging out makes absolutely no sense. But, you know, pretty. And the boots- high heels I'm never going to stop complaining about, but thigh high boots seem a tad bit impractical too. Yet, again, pretty. Especially with zippers or O rings or lacing all the way up the side. And yes, all the women running around looking like something out of a fetish catalogue probably should offend my feminist principles. But, shiny, pretty, and all tied up.
And then I remind myself - drawings! In pencil and ink and not terribly realistic coloring! The only difference between skin and not skin is which palette they use! So, one, they could be all skin tight and laced up and yet pretend that the character covers up an actually reasonable amount of skin. And two- the pretty is pretty much my imagination.
It is still unfair how lopsided costume design is. I mean when was the last time we saw fetish catalogue male costumes? Okay, so Nightwing used to have the cleavage showing. And I've seen a lot of leather and spikes. But the nice laced up the side trousers, totally absent. Male superheroes need to get tied up too you know.
On the practical side, I might know that armour is a life saver, but the robot look does nothing for me. Cyborg was pretty much a shiny bondage toy for much of his design life, but the ones that actually look like machines are pretty boring.
Yet I see Huntress change her costume to have the 'shoot me here' peekaboo and I get all *eyeroll* and possibly *fume*. So, okay, her being suicidally insane is not in fact out of character, but come on, did they really mean to imply that when they revamped the costume? Or were they just 'hmmm, covered all over in nice armoured cloth, must be why we're losing sales. Quick, color that bit in pink!'
The costumes in themselves make sense because then people recognise the costumes and you can be inconspicuous the rest of the time. Plus the practicalities of trying to keep people distinctive when they're all in pencil and drawn different by different artists. But that's the ooc reason. In character, colorful cloth saves secret identity.
But do said costumes always have to be skintight? I mean Superboy's jeans and t-shirt look did add up to a nice distinctive costume, yet passes for street clothes. And I liked the jacket from before. Okay, so it was very 90s, or possibly a bit 80s, but I liked it. Coats are worn for very practical reasons. Not everyone is invulnerable.
So I like the ones who have costume variants for cold or hot weather, or different colors like Catwoman had for a while, for camouflage in different conditions. Because one skintight outfit suiting all environments? Not so much realistic.
Okay, so they live in a universe where Camorouge has a cloth that can match any background, and Batman copies it. That is one practical costume. And with all the alien technology, maybe it is possible to be skintight and yet suitable for all environments including deep space and the hearts of suns. Green Lantern rings got it covered, for instance. But mostly, if they're going to use words like Kevlar (which, incidentally, is already out of date, but very recogniseable) then keeping the costumes that thin is just not worky.
I like it when other characters point out that the painted on look is not absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, Nightwing covering up with so much as a cape would be practically a crime. All those vaguely porny acrobatics, hidden by swooshy cloth.
Actually, come to think, nice practical yet still insane costumes- Green Arrow family. Arsenal only when not in that godawful purple and blue getup he had in old Titans issues I read. Arsenal looks good in red. And I liked the Checkmate blue and gold look. But the other thing... as I said before, Titans costumes = *shudders*. But there's times when GA is all tunics and trousers. Okay, mostly tights, because tradition, but it still counts as something that might once have been worn as clothing.
And then we have Black Canary. Okay, so the loose thing she had when I started reading Justice League was butt ugly. I realise that. But the thing where she relies on martial arts yet wears, mostly, a pair of fishnet tights... There is some value in misdirection and underestimation. But she's had most bits broken, bruised, bloodied and cut over the years- surely she realises there's *more* value in having enough on that you don't have to worry about, say, thistles, nettles, or relatively determined grass giving you minor yet painful injuries?
I like the floaty coat layer she wore to be scary. I like zips with round bits to pull on. But I like a bit of practicality from the martial arts set too.
Okay, so that was long and vaguely ranty.
Basically, comics pretty, but often in ways that bug me.
Which everyone who reads them knows anyway.
So obviously that was worth a page, to say it again... ::)
Comics costume design is something I have very mixed feelings about. I mean on the one hand, if they arent invulnerable, they should be armoured. All these girls running around with everything hanging out makes absolutely no sense. But, you know, pretty. And the boots- high heels I'm never going to stop complaining about, but thigh high boots seem a tad bit impractical too. Yet, again, pretty. Especially with zippers or O rings or lacing all the way up the side. And yes, all the women running around looking like something out of a fetish catalogue probably should offend my feminist principles. But, shiny, pretty, and all tied up.
And then I remind myself - drawings! In pencil and ink and not terribly realistic coloring! The only difference between skin and not skin is which palette they use! So, one, they could be all skin tight and laced up and yet pretend that the character covers up an actually reasonable amount of skin. And two- the pretty is pretty much my imagination.
It is still unfair how lopsided costume design is. I mean when was the last time we saw fetish catalogue male costumes? Okay, so Nightwing used to have the cleavage showing. And I've seen a lot of leather and spikes. But the nice laced up the side trousers, totally absent. Male superheroes need to get tied up too you know.
On the practical side, I might know that armour is a life saver, but the robot look does nothing for me. Cyborg was pretty much a shiny bondage toy for much of his design life, but the ones that actually look like machines are pretty boring.
Yet I see Huntress change her costume to have the 'shoot me here' peekaboo and I get all *eyeroll* and possibly *fume*. So, okay, her being suicidally insane is not in fact out of character, but come on, did they really mean to imply that when they revamped the costume? Or were they just 'hmmm, covered all over in nice armoured cloth, must be why we're losing sales. Quick, color that bit in pink!'
The costumes in themselves make sense because then people recognise the costumes and you can be inconspicuous the rest of the time. Plus the practicalities of trying to keep people distinctive when they're all in pencil and drawn different by different artists. But that's the ooc reason. In character, colorful cloth saves secret identity.
But do said costumes always have to be skintight? I mean Superboy's jeans and t-shirt look did add up to a nice distinctive costume, yet passes for street clothes. And I liked the jacket from before. Okay, so it was very 90s, or possibly a bit 80s, but I liked it. Coats are worn for very practical reasons. Not everyone is invulnerable.
So I like the ones who have costume variants for cold or hot weather, or different colors like Catwoman had for a while, for camouflage in different conditions. Because one skintight outfit suiting all environments? Not so much realistic.
Okay, so they live in a universe where Camorouge has a cloth that can match any background, and Batman copies it. That is one practical costume. And with all the alien technology, maybe it is possible to be skintight and yet suitable for all environments including deep space and the hearts of suns. Green Lantern rings got it covered, for instance. But mostly, if they're going to use words like Kevlar (which, incidentally, is already out of date, but very recogniseable) then keeping the costumes that thin is just not worky.
I like it when other characters point out that the painted on look is not absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, Nightwing covering up with so much as a cape would be practically a crime. All those vaguely porny acrobatics, hidden by swooshy cloth.
Actually, come to think, nice practical yet still insane costumes- Green Arrow family. Arsenal only when not in that godawful purple and blue getup he had in old Titans issues I read. Arsenal looks good in red. And I liked the Checkmate blue and gold look. But the other thing... as I said before, Titans costumes = *shudders*. But there's times when GA is all tunics and trousers. Okay, mostly tights, because tradition, but it still counts as something that might once have been worn as clothing.
And then we have Black Canary. Okay, so the loose thing she had when I started reading Justice League was butt ugly. I realise that. But the thing where she relies on martial arts yet wears, mostly, a pair of fishnet tights... There is some value in misdirection and underestimation. But she's had most bits broken, bruised, bloodied and cut over the years- surely she realises there's *more* value in having enough on that you don't have to worry about, say, thistles, nettles, or relatively determined grass giving you minor yet painful injuries?
I like the floaty coat layer she wore to be scary. I like zips with round bits to pull on. But I like a bit of practicality from the martial arts set too.
Okay, so that was long and vaguely ranty.
Basically, comics pretty, but often in ways that bug me.
Which everyone who reads them knows anyway.
So obviously that was worth a page, to say it again... ::)